Modus Operandi of the Erosion of the Rule of Law in Poland – Experience in 2015–2023 Cover Image

Modus Operandi of the Erosion of the Rule of Law in Poland – Experience in 2015–2023
Modus Operandi of the Erosion of the Rule of Law in Poland – Experience in 2015–2023

Author(s): Michał Mistygacz
Subject(s): Constitutional Law, Recent History (1900 till today), Government/Political systems, Sociology of Law
Published by: Wydział Nauk Politycznych i Studiów Międzynarodowych UW
Keywords: Constitutional democracy; constitutional crisis; destruction of the rule of law; neutralisation of institutions; patronal autocracy;

Summary/Abstract: The author of this article attempts to diagnose the changes in Polish constitutional democracy taking place in 2015–2023, and at the same time tries to select and catalogue violations of systemic practice, leading to the erosion of the rule of law, ultimately resulting in the recognition of Polish constitutional democracy as a defective democracy in 2023 (according to the Global Democracy Index). It presents the circumstances and secretive behaviours of the ruling elite of this period, including changes in the area of the judiciary, including the constitutional judiciary, remodelling of the control of the correctness of the electoral process, changes and politicization of the electoral administration and the prosecutor’s office, politicization of an independent public broadcaster with the introduction of newspeak and brutalization of the public language, adoption of the facade role of the parliament, as well as violation of the standards of transparency and political corruption leading to the formation of constitutional decision making, detached from – it seemed – the well-established constitutional identity with its fundamental values defining it.

  • Issue Year: 74/2024
  • Issue No: 74
  • Page Range: 217-234
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: English
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